Recognizing A Complaint

You would think this would be a silly article to even write. After all, in our complaint filled society who would not recognize a complaint – "The weather is too hot!" "The A/C is too cold!" "He got his ice cream before I got mine." Sometimes I think you could give out free $100 bills and folks would complain.

In banking, we have to be aware of, document, analyze and track customer complaints. Trending analysis is important. Keeping the Board informed is important.

Sometimes there are customer complaints we fail to recognize. Among the most common are the following:

Third party vendor - The regulators expect us to include third party vendor complaints. For example, assume your bank utilizes a third party credit card vendor or rewards vendor. You need to know the process for ensuring customer complaints from this third party relationship are received by the bank. As another example, secondary market investors - vendors who sell non-deposit investment products in your retail branches are yet another example to be included in customer complaint tracking.

Social media - Does your bank include customer complaints via social media?

Customer complaints with no complaint form completed - Many times customers will voice a product or service complaint, but not elect to fill out a complaint form. Yet, a complaint still exists to be logged, tracked and trended.

CRA and fair lending-related customer complaints - Yes, these are documented and handled by the CRA Officer; however, these are among the highest risk complaints. Ensure inclusion in your customer complaint management process.